New player questions

[bellwookie]

so I got this game a while ago, I've heard it's one of the best RPG's so I figured I'd give it a try. I've played a bit of Fallout 1 and didn't like it (primarily because it was incredibly confusing), but haven't played any other Fallout games. I have played Skyrim, which should be at least somewhat similar. So anything I should know?

In Skyrim I played a Mage, only attacking with magic. I've looked a bit at the stats, and I'm not quite sure what to go for. I like Strength for Melee, Unarmed, and Inventory Weight, Endurance for Unarmed, Charisma for Speech, Intelligence for Skill Points, Agility for Speed, and Luck because it seems generally useful.
The Skills that sound the most fun are Speech, Melee Weapons or Unarmed, and maybe Sneak, Science, and Lockpick.
The Traits Early Bird, Good Natured, Hoarder, and Built to Destroy sound fun, especially the first two.
I'm thinking something like 6/1/1/8/8/8 with Sneak, Speech, and Lockpick or Melee with Early Bird and Good Natured?

So I'm wondering a few things: How exactly does leveling up work? How bad is it to have low points in each stat (is having a "dump stat" viable?) so I can have high points in the important ones? Is Melee or Unarmed better? Is there anything about the character building that I'm messing up? Would using the extra item packs I have (presumably from DLC?) mess with the game's balance? Do Traits affect dialogue, or just gameplay? Any additional tips about common mistakes and stuff would be good too. I know very little about the game, so no spoilers please.

Edit: How early can I get a house or whatever to store my stuff? In Skyrim I horded every item I ever collected and I'd like to do the same here. If there's no infinite storage that would be nice to know too.

[psychotron666]

The build in general is pretty good, unarmed is like the most powerful combat skill in the game by far, and you can learn a few unique abilities from specific NPCs (like spin kick that knocks people down, a move that throws sand in your opponents eyes, a Superman jump punch).

As for dump stats, the only one that's really good to dump is charisma (even if you use speech because it just reduces your initial speech stat) if you're not using companions and not on hardcore mode (imo I recommend hardcore mode even for a first play through, it's independent of regular difficulty just adds hunger and thirst needs, companions can die - which charisma helps with this making them survive better - and healing items are over time instead of instant so you can't just spam them when you're about to die).

But if you're doing fully melee or unarmed, you don't need perception. However I wouldn't recommend dumping endurance as a close combat fighter.

Most traits will have dialogue options at certain points, but not many. In general all perks, traits and your skill level itself can be used in dialogue (like high enough explosives skill and you can convince easy Pete to give you dynamite for the ghost town gunfight, or you can use gun skills to train the NCR misfit squad) to get through quests optionally. Speech is also very powerful for alternative quest outcomes and choices.

The courier's stash items do make the early game much easier, those were different pre order bonuses that got lumped into one DLC. If you want a more authentic playthrough, you can drop them off at the very beginning and keep one one pack, or the Joshua Sawyer mod (mod made by head developer) distributes those packs into specific spots in game. But honestly they don't make the game that much easier, especially as a melee build you basically just get the machete, throwing spears and vault armour to help out.

There are multiple player houses in the game (two of the dlc also give you really nice player houses as part of their dlc but you need to complete the dlc first).

You can also just turn any abandoned shack into your house, there are many of those that have crafting benches nearby or within them and beds and clean water sources. The main quest also gives you a very convenient player house and some side quests also give you some, so yes, there's lots.

As for leveling up, how it works is every level you get a certain amount of skill points you can distribute to any skill (based on your intelligence and some perks will increase this too), and every second level you get to pick a perk. Many perks have requirements ranging from attribute (special) levels, skill levels, other perks and just general level. You can look at all the perks when you level up to see what they do and their requirements for later in the game if you want to plan for specific perks. (Super slam perk is extremely good for melee and unarmed builds for example).

As for general advice, I'd say go in mostly blind. Don't jump into the dlc right away, especially the one close to the beginning of the game. The game ends when you beat the main quest, so make sure you do everything including dlc before then. Id recommend tackling the dlc in order of honest hearts, dead money, old world blues and lonesome road. Honest hearts is best done around the time when you make it to Vegas first (the dlc is a good excuse for money to be able to get into Vegas proper), around level 7-15 imo. Dead money when you're first going to meet Ceasar or going to the Legion camp, around level 15-25. Old world blues level 20-30, and lonesome road level 30+ (and usually near end game once you have decided on a faction and done some quests with them to lock in).

Also around the time you make it into Vegas proper, you get a one time forgiveness of crimes done to NCR or Legion (so if you do something early to make them hate you, you get one chance of forgiveness). And I don't recommend picking a faction to side with until you go and talk to all 4 of the main factions at least once to see what they are about (when Legion and NCR give you that forgiveness is when they formally invite you to meet them).

You can play the middle of all 4 factions for a bit (NCR, Legion,Mr house and yes man). At some point you will get a quest "don't tread on the bear" and "beware the wrath of Ceasar", these quests are simply warnings that if you continue down your path you were on when you unlock the quest, you will lock yourself out of those two factions forever regardless of your reputation. (Mr house has an obvious event that will lock you out of his, and yes man is the failsafe ending you can do regardless even if you kill every NPC in the game you can finish the main quest this way).

And just keep in mind almost all quests have multiple ways of completing them (some not so obvious), and just because an NPC and quest directs you to something doesn't mean you have to do it that way.

Also you can pay for implants that can increase each special stat by 1 permanently, but you can only get as many implants depending on your endurance (so another good reason not to dump it), and you can increase them with perks (not recommended in general unless you really need a special a specific level to unlock another perk you want). So don't start with 10 in anything, start with 9 and get the implant.

[TimTheEvoker]

With regards to dump stats: Charisma charisma charisma, and did I mention charisma? Like Fallout 1, it has little practical use beyond setting your starting stats. Other SPECIAL have far more practical effects. Also like the early Fallouts, there are enough ways to increase your strength that starting above 6 is wasteful or possibly even 5 if you decide to give the finger to subtly and don power armor.

IIRC melee is somewhat better, but don't neglect unarmed even if you go melee as it's needed for some Perk requirements.

Perks are extremely useful and only come once every two levels. Don't waste them on stat or especially skill boosts unless you have nothing better to select. Incidentally, most hostile NPCs are male....

Wild Wasteland is the only dialogue effecting Trait.

Those extra items are from a pre-order bonus that is now included as part of the ultimate pack. Yes, they kinda break the early game balance, but they're really only upgraded 2nd tier equipment. They'll be rendered useless around mid game if not sooner.

[psychotron666]

Originally posted by TimTheEvoker:

With regards to dump stats: Charisma charisma charisma, and did I mention charisma? Like Fallout 1, it has little practical use beyond setting your starting stats. Other SPECIAL have far more practical effects. Also like the early Fallouts, there are enough ways to increase your strength that starting above 6 is wasteful or possibly even 5 if you decide to give the finger to subtly and don power armor.

IIRC melee is somewhat better, but don't neglect unarmed even if you go melee as it's needed for some Perk requirements.

Perks are extremely useful and only come once every two levels. Don't waste them on stat or especially skill boosts unless you have nothing better to select. Incidentally, most hostile NPCs are male....

Wild Wasteland is the only dialogue effecting Trait.

Those extra items are from a pre-order bonus that is now included as part of the ultimate pack. Yes, they kinda break the early game balance, but they're really only upgraded 2nd tier equipment. They'll be rendered useless around mid game if not sooner.

Other traits can affect dialogue. I remember seeing dialog for claustrophobic for example and I think I've seen others, but they are extremely rare (and there's alternatives with other skills, perks or stats when these are possible).

[bellwookie]

Thanks for the information! Knowing about implants and Charisma being weak definitely helps, I'll probably do 7/1/7/2/7/9/7, I put Intelligence at 9 for more Skill points (the Skill Point gain is probably based on the base stat, so Early Bird shouldn't help). I'll go Melee, it fits the Rogue type character I'm going for better than Unarmed. I don't think I'll play Hardcore, but I'll drop the DLC item packs. I'll try to focus on Speech, Melee, Stealth, Lockpicking, and Science. Good Natured was mostly a dialogue pick, it doesn't seem very strong mechanically (only a net 5 skill points in what I want). I'm not sure what to go with instead. Small Frame, Skilled, Hot Blooded, and Hoarder all seem pretty cool (Wild Wasteland, Built to Destroy or Loose Canon seem less enticing, but could also be fun)? Follow-up question, does this game have infinite levels like Skyrim, or is there a maximum level? If it has a max level, I'll probably go for Skilled. Thanks again for the help!

[NightmareGats]

https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/83633?tab=description

this mod makes the game lvl up works like skyrim

[TimTheEvoker]

Don't feel compelled to fill your trait slots, but Skilled is far from a bad choice. You can easily hit level cap (50) before finishing every mission.

And don't be frightened by the cap being lowered by Logan's Loophole. The loophole has loopholes and no chem addiction is stupidly powerful for a melee build, but that's perhaps best done once you understand all the options the game gives you to turn you into death incarnate.

[psychotron666]

Originally posted by bellwookie:

Thanks for the information! Knowing about implants and Charisma being weak definitely helps, I'll probably do 7/1/7/2/7/9/7, I put Intelligence at 9 for more Skill points (the Skill Point gain is probably based on the base stat, so Early Bird shouldn't help). I'll go Melee, it fits the Rogue type character I'm going for better than Unarmed. I don't think I'll play Hardcore, but I'll drop the DLC item packs. I'll try to focus on Speech, Melee, Stealth, Lockpicking, and Science. Good Natured was mostly a dialogue pick, it doesn't seem very strong mechanically (only a net 5 skill points in what I want). I'm not sure what to go with instead. Small Frame, Skilled, Hot Blooded, and Hoarder all seem pretty cool (Wild Wasteland, Built to Destroy or Loose Canon seem less enticing, but could also be fun)? Follow-up question, does this game have infinite levels like Skyrim, or is there a maximum level? If it has a max level, I'll probably go for Skilled. Thanks again for the help!

Max level 50 so keep that in mind. Good natured is actually really good because most characters use those skills, while the combat skills that are reduced you likely only use one or two of them.

[Valden21]

I would also recommend the Good-Natured trait, OP. The penalty to it is a one-time only thing, and of the skills it effects, only one of them will have any impact on your character. The skill bonus that you're getting is actually higher than you think, for a net gain of 10 skill points; you have two of the skills it positively affects (Speech and Science, and only one of the skills it negatively affects (Melee).

[Bob of Mage]

Most skills, perks, and all of the SPECIAL stats have at least some checks related to them. Generally, but not always, passing these checks will give better results, and open up alternative paths. At the very least you will get an exp reward (when talking to some characters for the first time, fully exploring their dialogue can result in lots of chances for checks, and those a nice haul of exp).

Often it isn't just checking against one thing, but there are a bunch of checks on different things, with some being easier than others. For example using medicine to operation on a NPC's brain, or luck.

Not having the require stats to pass any of the checks usually doesn't lock you out of anything. There is normally a more effort intensive work around. Using the above example (which is based off an actual in game one, but I won't spoil the details), you can get the parts to repair an Auto-Doc to do the operation for you instead. However the needed parts are stuffed in the dark corner of a Vault overrun with feral ghouls, and radiation. You could also mess up the operation, and use a high speech to cover your ass.

In terms of what skills to go with, I found that having at least some investment in all the non-combat ones is useful. For combat skills I like to only go for a single one. All the weapon types have a large number of options, you you should never really need to use stuff from more than one family.

In regards to Hardcore mode, I echo the earlier comments that it is fine to jump in using it, and frankly I feel it is a vital part of the game. Healing limb damage is way too easy in normal. Food, water and, sleep are super easy to manage, but still add a feel that you can't just wait forever in one place to game the system.

In terms of player housing, the containers in most locations are safe, so you can take over just about any location as a storehouse right from the start. I like to use Victor's shack in Goodsprings since no NPC ever enters it, and nothing in there is owned. Novac has a motel room you can earn that is good early option once you get that far, and can last for the rest of the game if you want. Getting in the good graces of a number of factions earns you access to their safehouse. These are also good locations since they tend to have a number of useful features (including a bed that provides the fully rested buff), and are right next to a fast travel point. The only issue is that some are in more dangerous areas like the BoS one, which is next to a deathclaw infested area (it is somewhat balanced by there being some high tier weapons and power armour in that safehouse that are free to take).

[bellwookie]

Okay, so I looked some stuff up and did some math.

I can get a +1 in each stat from Implants
I can get +1 STR for free from a DLC (start with 6)
I need 6 PER for Better Crititals
Charisma is the dump stat
This page gives good info on where to get Skill points (I don’t need to min/max my character for it) https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Fallout:_New_Vegas_skills
282 skill points can be earned from books, or 376 with the Comprehension perk (94 extra)
The Educated perk grants 92 extra skill points
Leveling up grants 10 + 1/2 INT skill points per level, for 490 skill points as a base plus up to 245 from INT
Each SPECIAL boosts a number of skills for 2x their value: STR 1, AGI, CHA, and END 2, INT and PER 3. LCK is added to all stats, but is divided by 2 instead of multiplied. This averages out to 6.5 per level, slightly more than PER or INT.
Skilled grants 65 skill points, or 130 with the exploit (up to 195 later on)
All skills have a base of 2
You gain +15 to 3 skills you want at creation
I need 1300 points to max out my character

So for stats of 6/4/7/1/8/7/7 I have a total of 222 points, plus 45 from tags for a total of 267. Then add Skilled (+65) for a total of 332 as a base (note: in-game I have something giving me a +2 to Melee Weapons and Speech for 336, I don't know why though)
After that, we can add or subtract the Early Bird bonuses. Negative (5/3/6/1/7/6/6) brings our stats down to 301. Positive (8/6/8/3/10/9/9) brings them up to 397.
With the Skilled exploit, that's +65 for a total of 366-462. Then there's the Implants for skills, getting me 33 more (would be 39 but INT is already maxed), for 399-495. Now let's take into account levels and books. Assuming I find 50% of the books (I'll probably find more), that's 141 (or 188 with Comprehension) for a total of 540-636. Levels grant a base of 490, so that's up to 1030-1126, so just 174 to go, which can almost be achieved by 7 INT (171). That means I only need to start with 7 INT, and can put the point in PER instead, letting me get to 6 with the implant for Better Criticals. That change will leave me at the final base SPECIAL values of 7/6/8/2/8/8/8 (END has +1 from finishing Lonesome Road, letting me have all Implants except END), and modified 10/8/10/4/10/10/10 (STR has +1 from Spineless). This should get me all of the skill points without even having to pick Educated, though I'll probably avoid the Skilled exploit and take Educated instead.

Perks that seem useful/strong:
Educated (INT 4)
Travel Light (Survival 45)
Bloody Mess
Cowboy (Guns 45, Melee 45)
Living Anatomy (Medicine 70)
Stonewall (STR 6, END 6)
Strong Back (STR 5, END 5)
Super Slam (STR 6, Melee Weapons 45)
Mister Sandman (Sneak 60)
Long Haul (END 6, Barter 70)
Piercing Strike (Unarmed 70)
Silent Running (AGL 6, Sneak 50)
Better Criticals (PER 6, LCK 6)
Ninja (Melee Weapons 80, Sneak 80)
Slayer (AG 7, Unarmed 90)
DLC:
Light Touch (AGL 6, Repair 45)
Atomic! (END 6)
Tunnel Runner (AGL 8)
Burden to Bear (STR 6, END 6)
Thought You Died (Karma > 250)
Ain't like that now (Karma < -250)
Companion:
Stealth Girl

Perks that could be useful in some situations:
Lady Killer/Confirmed Bachelor
Friend of the Night (PE 6, Sneak 30)
Heave, Ho! (ST 5, explosives 30)
Hunter (Survival 30)
Comprehension (INT 4)
Entomologist (INT 4, Survival 45)
Toughness (EN 5)
Terrifying Presence (Speech 70)
Animal Friend (CHA 6, Survival 45)
Finesse
Nerd Rage (INT 5, Science 50)
Life Giver (END 6)
Robotics Expert (Science 50)
Unstoppable Force (STR 7, Melee Weapons 90)
Purifier
Explorer
Solar Powered (END 7)
DLC:
Heavyweight (STR 7)
Fight the Power
Implant GRX (END 8)
Alertness ( 9 > PER > 6)
Broad Daylight
Companion:
In my Footsteps
Signal Interference

I'll decide exactly which Perks to take later, for now I'm just gonna start the game. Honestly this was probably overkill for my first playthrough lol

[TimTheEvoker]

Better Crits and Finesse go like bread and butter.

While there's a lot going for Cowboy (and it's what I'm currently playing), I'm not sure I can suggest it for a melee build. The Blood Nap is outclassed by the Oh Baby!, and if you're going to take a perk for an end game weapon, it's Pyromaniac for the unique Shiskabab.

[kona]

Levelling is pretty easy to get. You gain experience points by killing enemies, finding new locations, completing quests, etc. you get enough experience points. When you level up you always get skill points based on a calculation of 10 + (0.5 x Intelligence.) and you allocate those points in a skill of your choice, and every 2nd level, you can pick out a perk and you can get any perk, as long as, you meet the unlock requirement.

In terms of dump stat, it's generally considered that Charisma is a worthless stat, it pretty much just gives you skill points in certain skills at the start of the game. If we're explicitly talking about not levelling up skills, it's fine to neglect certain skills to focus on the ones that fits your build. Some skills like Survival, for example, isn't great compared to main combat skills or skills like medicine or repair.

In terms of Melee vs. Unarmed. I personally prefer Unarmed but both are good, but if you want the best melee perk which is Slayer, you need to level Unarmed.

Most builds are pretty viable in FONV. You will know pretty early on if your build isn't working because you'll die fairly quickly to encounters. But even then, New Vegas I find to be an incredibly easy game, even on harder difficulties, I find that after a certain point in my runs, the game just becomes a joke.

The DLC Items, I personally don't use besides the medicine, if i remember correctly, some of them are pretty damn good. So if you want to not break the balance even harder than you already could by yourself, don't use them.

I don't think Traits themselves affect dialogue, I know some perks can affect dialogue, but that's about it. Traits mainly alter the gameplay itself.

Besides that, you got this. Like I said, New Vegas is a pretty easy game, you shouldn't be too stressed out playing the game, and if it does somehow get difficult for you, you can turn the difficulty down. You said you've played Skyrim before and I personally find Skyrim to be more challenging to play, and even then, I only died maybe 2 or 3 times during my run in Skyrim.

[psychotron666]

Originally posted by kona:

Levelling is pretty easy to get. You gain experience points by killing enemies, finding new locations, completing quests, etc. you get enough experience points. When you level up you always get skill points based on a calculation of 10 + (0.5 x Intelligence.) and you allocate those points in a skill of your choice, and every 2nd level, you can pick out a perk and you can get any perk, as long as, you meet the unlock requirement.

In terms of dump stat, it's generally considered that Charisma is a worthless stat, it pretty much just gives you skill points in certain skills at the start of the game. If we're explicitly talking about not levelling up skills, it's fine to neglect certain skills to focus on the ones that fits your build. Some skills like Survival, for example, isn't great compared to main combat skills or skills like medicine or repair.

In terms of Melee vs. Unarmed. I personally prefer Unarmed but both are good, but if you want the best melee perk which is Slayer, you need to level Unarmed.

Most builds are pretty viable in FONV. You will know pretty early on if your build isn't working because you'll die fairly quickly to encounters. But even then, New Vegas I find to be an incredibly easy game, even on harder difficulties, I find that after a certain point in my runs, the game just becomes a joke.

The DLC Items, I personally don't use besides the medicine, if i remember correctly, some of them are pretty damn good. So if you want to not break the balance even harder than you already could by yourself, don't use them.

I don't think Traits themselves affect dialogue, I know some perks can affect dialogue, but that's about it. Traits mainly alter the gameplay itself.

Besides that, you got this. Like I said, New Vegas is a pretty easy game, you shouldn't be too stressed out playing the game, and if it does somehow get difficult for you, you can turn the difficulty down. You said you've played Skyrim before and I personally find Skyrim to be more challenging to play, and even then, I only died maybe 2 or 3 times during my run in Skyrim.

Lol wut. Survival is way better than medicine when it comes to healing. Healing poultice ftw

[TimTheEvoker]

Originally posted by psychotron666:

Lol wut. Survival is way better than medicine when it comes to healing. Healing poultice ftw

First, unmodded, healing poultice uses Medicine, not Survival. And you only need 20 Survival to craft it.

Second, it's sort of a regular vs. hardcore thing. Stims provide an instant, do everything solution with no weight whatsoever in regular mode. It's in hardcore where all healing takes time that Survival really begins to shine.

[kona]

Yeah, Survival is only really worth caring about in Hardcore mode, but even when I play Hardcore mode, I just didn’t put points into Survival. It’s true healing takes time in Hardcore mode but if you plan ahead with how you utilise your medicine, then you’ll still be sufficiently healed up during an encounter.